Exposing Workers to Plutonium

Case 3. Exposing Workers to Plutonium

In August 1999 it was learned that several thousand uranium workers in a 750 acre plant in Paducah, Kentucky, had been exposed to plutonium and other radioactive materials. The exposures occurred at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which is owned by the Department of Energy of the U.S. government and is still in operation today. The 1,800 workers in the plant once labored to produce material for bombs from uranium dust. The radioactive contaminants that caused the exposure also spilled into ditches and eventually were carried into wildlife areas and private water wells. Some of the material had been deliberately dumped into landfills and nearby fields. In the last few years the enriched uranium produced at the plant has been sold to commercial nuclear power plants.

Many records on plutonium contamination were kept in archives, but workers were never told of potential risks to health. Recent studies indicate that the workers have experienced higher rates of cancers from the ionizing radiation. Because they were never altered to the risks, workers did not wear sufficient protection while working with the harmful products. Workers were told that there were insignificant amount of plutonium and were not monitored to determine the actual levels of exposure. High levels of radiation have been discovered in the plant, and more recently, reports indicate that plutonium has been found to 1 mile from the plant. In several locations half a mile from the plant, tests in the year 2000 revealed that plutonium levels were above 20 times the maximally acceptable limit. Groundwater cleanups have been underway since 1988, when the serious level of pollution in wells was discovered. Individuals continue not to draw water from personal wells that may be contaminated.

Union Carbide managed the plant for a 32-year period, when most of the pollution occurred. Lockheed Martin and Martin Marietta managed the plant during the 1980s and...